The third and final part of South Africa’s tour of India gets underway on Tuesday, with the two teams facing off in the first of five T20Is at the Barabati Stadium here.
The Men in Blue have been almost unstoppable in this format, winning all six bilateral series in addition to the multi-nation Asia Cup, (26 wins, four defeats) since clinching the T20 World Cup in 2024. With the title defence coming up on home soil and Sri Lanka next year, the focus will remain on fine-tuning an already well-oiled machine.
Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya return to the squad, the former recovering from a neck spasm and the latter overcoming a quadriceps injury.
Much of the side’s fortunes depend on how the opening pair of Gill and Abhishek Sharma go about their business. The latter has been the best in the business lately, his 27 sixes the most by any player in T20Is this year.
Having made merry in Australia, where he topped the charts for India (163 runs), Abhishek comes into the series on the back of scintillating performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 304 runs for Punjab at an average of 50.66 and an astonishing strike rate of 249.18.
Jasprit Bumrah returns to the squad after being rested for the ODI series and he will be raring to go, with a red soil pitch, offering bounce and pace and sourced from Maharashtra, awaiting both teams.
That said, there are a few issues to iron out too, starting with Suryakumar Yadav’s form, who has averaged only 15.33 this year. Tilak Varma has also found runs hard to come by, scoring just 34 runs in three matches Down Under.
The Proteas, unlike their opponents, have been in dismal form in T20Is this year, winning just five of 15 matches. In fact, they have won just a solitary series (out of eight) since last year’s showpiece event.
South Africa will bank on opener Quinton de Kock to continue his fine form in India — averaging 50.88 in T20Is. With Dewald Brevis striking at 223 in the middle overs, the best by any player this year, there’s enough firepower in the tank for the visitor.
On the bowling front, Corbin Bosch has been South Africa’s best T20 bowler this year, with 17 wickets to his name. While Tony de Zorzi and Kwena Maphaka have been ruled out of the series because of injuries, the squad will be boosted by the return of pacer Anrich Nortje, who will be making his first international appearance since the 2024 T20 World Cup final.
The presence of George Linde will also give the side a boost in both departments, the veteran striking at 137.02 with the bat and picking up 27 wickets with a 7.33 economy in 25 matches.
The two teams have squared off in T20Is at this venue twice before (2015 and 2022), with South Africa coming out on top both times.
The temperature on matchday is expected to drop to around 12°C, but both sides are well poised to turn up the heat.
The teams (from): India: Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Shubman Gill (Vice-capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar.
South Africa: Aiden Markram (Capt.), Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Reeza Hendricks, David Miller, George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Quinton de Kock (wk), Donovan Ferreira (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Ottneil Baartman, Keshav Maharaj, Kwena Maphaka, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje.
Match starts at 7 p.m.
Published – December 08, 2025 08:27 pm IST
